Oldham vs Portsmouth Preview

Pompey travel to not-so-sunny northern England tomorrow to take on struggling Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park.

Team News

Shaun Cooper will miss this game with a hip injury sustained in the last game against Carlisle. However, David Connolly has returned to fitness and may start in place of James Keene.

Oldham's caretaker manager has injury problems as Carl Winchester, James Wesolowski and Cliff Byrne were all casualties in their last game at Stevenage and will miss tomorrow's match. Alex Cisak and Jordan Obita are set to play against their former club.

The Match

The farce off the pitch continues as Portpin released a rather desperate statement this evening demanding that the Football League "consider" the Keith Harris bid. The Trust's response is the only rebuttal required and will no doubt make Chainrai and his cronies feel rather silly.

As for events on the pitch, that most recent win over Shrewsbury on October 20th, 2012 is becoming ever more distant and this fixture will not be an easy one to finally end this horrendous run.

The Latics have improved since Paul Dickov resigned with two wins over Stevenage and MK Dons in their last two games. Tony Philliskirk's men also have an FA Cup replay at Everton to look forward to on Tuesday.

Hopefully, the injuries to key players and the distraction of a big cup game in the week is something that a slowly improving Portsmouth side can capitalise on.

Not that I am getting my hopes up. After all it'll be cold up in Greater Manchester and a long journey back home. That usually spells defeat and Obita is sure to have a say too having been absolute rubbish during his time at Pompey.

What is it they say in times of trouble? Keep the faith? If we keep it much longer we'll all believe in Scientology given just what we've been put through in the last year!

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Oldham

GK: Alex CISAK

RB: Jonathan GROUNDS

CB: Jean-Yves MVOTO

CB: Connor BROWN

LB: James TARKOWSKI

RM: Jordan OBITA

CM: Dean FURMAN

CM: Robbie SIMPSON

LM: Lee CROFT

CF: Lee BARNARD

CF: Jose BAXTER

Pompey

GK: Simon EASTWOOD

RB: Yassin MOUTAOUAKIL

CB: Ricardo ROCHA

CB: Sam SODJE

LB: Dan BUTLER

RM: Adam REED

CM: Johnny ERTL

CM: Therry RACON

LM: Jed WALLACE

CF: James KEENE

CF: Patrick AGYEMANG

Last Time: Oldham Athletic 0 Portsmouth 0 (Division One - 05/11/1996)

Nobody remembered this Bonfire Night as Pompey fans made the Tuesday night trip to Boundary Park for a goalless draw.

My Prediction

I'd love to think we'll get a result but Oldham have turned a corner since dirty Dickov left and I think this will be our 22nd game without a win.